Realm of Light - Deborah Chester [66]
Elandra felt as though all her courage had been knocked from her in one sharp blow. She felt twelve years old again, skinny and unprotected, about to be punished by Hecati and her willow switches.
Dry-mouthed, she blinked hard, but Hecati did not vanish. “Hecati,” she said at last, managing to stammer out the woman’s name.
“Elandra,” Hecati replied, her voice thick with sugary sweetness. “My, how changed you are from when I saw you last. You overcame my parting gift. How clever of you.”
Elandra felt cold inside. Hecati had blinded her on the steps to the Penestrican stronghold before the sisters could intervene. Elandra had spent weeks without her sight, a harrowing experience she would never forget.
Anger mingled with her fear, warming her, strengthening her. She lifted her chin, refusing to let Hecati think she could still be intimidated.
“Yes, I can see again,” she replied coolly, giving thanks now for the long lessons in deportment and palace protocol. She was no longer the ragged, illegitimate daughter of a busy provincial household, tyrannized and abused. She was an empress, and she would act like one.
Her gaze met Hecati’s, betraying none of her inner fear. “The Penestricans restored my sight.”
“Yes, and now you are their puppet.”
Elandra’s delicate nostrils flared. “You will address me as your Majesty.”
Hecati’s eyes narrowed, and a light flush appeared on her face. “Fool!” she said. “You dare rebuke one of Mael’s chosen? I can char you to ashes where you stand!”
Elandra’s topaz was glowing warm and hidden within the curl of her fist. She tried to draw strength and reassurance from it, although her heart continued to pound.
“If that were true, you would have done it already,” Elandra said with defiance. “Why have you brought me to this place? What do you want?”
“This is the future! Look at it,” Hecati commanded maliciously, spreading her hands wide.
Elandra kept her gaze on the witch’s face, refusing to look at the blighted landscape. “What do you want?”
“I want to see your fear.” Scooping up a handful of soil, Hecati hurled it at Elandra’s skirts. “You are empress of a dead land.”
“You say it is the future,” Elandra said. “But because it does not yet exist, the future can change an infinite number of times. That means there is hope of an alternative.”
Hecati glared at her, looking displeased. “Someone has taught you philosophy and logic,” she said at last in grudging acknowledgement.
Elandra smiled.
The sudden smell of something burning was the only warning Elandra had before Hecati threw what looked like a black ball at her. As it came through the air, it uncoiled into the long, slender form of a serpent.
There was no time to think. Elandra lifted her hand instinctively, and the light emanating from her topaz shone upon the serpent.
Just before the serpent struck her, it exploded into ashes that blew away in the harsh wind.
Hecati screamed as though hurt, but only fury showed in her withered face. She lifted her hands, curling them into claws. “Damn you!” she cried. “You witless bastard, who gave you a Jewel of Sovereignty?”
Elandra had no intention of telling her the truth. Defiantly she faced the witch. “Am I not the empress sovereign? Do I not share my husband’s reign?”
“You are nothing!” Hecati shouted. “You have an unconsummated marriage. You love a slave of such low lineage he cannot even be found in our auspices. You are a penniless exile from your own palace. And you carry the poison of darkness in your veins, which will soon render you one of the living dead. Oh, yes, Elandra the Illegitimate, hold yourself high with pride. But what does so much pride avail you? You are nothing!”
Tears sprang to Elandra’s eyes, and it was all she could do to hold them in check. Even now, Hecati’s sharp tongue could still leave wounds. She had the unerring ability to find every vulnerability, and stab deeper into it.
But Elandra was not the girl she had once been. No matter what her emotions, she would not bend. “What do you want from me?” she repeated quietly. “Why did you bring me here for this